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Your Phone Is Listening—Literally Listening—to Your TV
theatlantic.com ^ | NOV 19, 2015 | KAVEH WADDELL

Posted on 11/20/2015 5:09:27 AM PST by Not gonna take it anymore

The TV is on in the background, and you’re replying to a quick email on your phone nearby. You don’t know it, but the devices are communicating. During a commercial, the TV emits an inaudible tone and your phone, which was listening for it, picks it up. Somewhere far away, a server makes a note: Both devices probably belong to you. This information about which devices belong to whom is immensely valuable to advertisers hoping to target ads specifically to you. In a simpler time, targeted marketing was easy. Most people had a computer at work and maybe another at home. If you sent an email about your new cat, ads for cat food started cropping up. If you searched for Thanksgiving recipes, Safeway coupons for turkeys appeared in your Facebook newsfeed.

(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Crime/Corruption; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: cookies; internet; privacy; tv
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To: Not gonna take it anymore

Just assume that any new devices in your home (especially ones with mics) are listening.
I unpack laptop from factory box, and put tape over the built in web cam.
Then disable the mic in the settings.
No TV. No Smartphone, No FB, No Google.


21 posted on 11/20/2015 5:56:30 AM PST by two23 (Ignore the media. It isn't propaganda if we don't listen.)
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To: Not gonna take it anymore

Call Any Vegetable

(excerpt)

Call any vegetable
(Call any vegetable)
Call it by name
(Call any vegetable)
Call one today
(Call any vegetable)
When you get off the train
(Call any vegetable)
Call any vegetable
And the chances are good
Ooooh! The vegetable
Will respond to you

(Some people don’t go for prunes . . . I dunno . . . I’ve always found that if they . . . )

Call any vegetable
(Call any vegetable)
Pick up your phone
(Call any vegetable)
Think of a vegetable
(Call any vegetable)
Lonely at home
(Call any vegetable)
Call any vegetable
And the chances are good
That a vegetable will respond to you-hoooo


22 posted on 11/20/2015 5:57:49 AM PST by equaviator (There's nothing like the universe to bring you down to earth.)
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To: Not gonna take it anymore
I have no idea why the apostrophes in the article look so weird.

Image and video hosting by TinyPic

Below is an example of both types of apostrophes and quotation marks in a pre-post composition AND the result after posting or previewing both:

Image and video hosting by TinyPic

Image and video hosting by TinyPic

23 posted on 11/20/2015 6:08:31 AM PST by ETL (Ted Cruz 2016!! -- For a better and safer America)
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To: basil
Does this hold true for my dumb phone—an older flip phone?

My understanding is the older phones without internet access don't have this problem.

24 posted on 11/20/2015 6:34:25 AM PST by mac_truck (aide toi et dieu t'aidera)
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To: Not gonna take it anymore

Used foil chip bags are your friend.


25 posted on 11/20/2015 6:36:18 AM PST by Buckeye McFrog
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To: taterjay; shibumi

Or marathons of That 70s Show, How It’s Made, and Ancient Aliens?

:)


26 posted on 11/20/2015 6:44:53 AM PST by Salamander (Trump is the voice of the muzzled majority.)
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To: Not gonna take it anymore

I have a dumb phone issued by “Common Cents”. It doesn’t support anything weird.


27 posted on 11/20/2015 6:55:14 AM PST by GingisK
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To: Not gonna take it anymore
If you REALLY want to know why...

What's wrong with "smart quotes" and possibly how to fix it (Vanity)

28 posted on 11/20/2015 6:55:44 AM PST by ProtectOurFreedom (For those who understand, no explanation is needed. For those who do not, no explanation is possible)
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To: Salamander

I do check on Giorgio for grooming tips.


29 posted on 11/20/2015 6:59:22 AM PST by shibumi (Vampire Outlaw of the Milky Way)
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To: Not gonna take it anymore

This is sick.


30 posted on 11/20/2015 7:20:23 AM PST by SaraJohnson
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To: moovova
Well, I hope they pick up on the fact that EVERY TIME a commercial comes on, I mute the TV and pickup my phone to surf the interwebz. As I recline comfortably on the sofa, both the remote and phone rests on my chest. Often, the cat squeezes in...

I DVR any program I might want to watch, so I can skip over the commercials entirely.

31 posted on 11/20/2015 7:26:07 AM PST by PapaBear3625 (Big government is attractive to those who think that THEY will be in control of it.)
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To: Not gonna take it anymore

I haven’t watched television since April. Cancelled cable and watch exclusively Netflix now. I don’t miss it at all, and it’s stuff like this that makes me a little extra happy that I stopped watching TV proper.


32 posted on 11/20/2015 7:29:28 AM PST by baltiless
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To: Not gonna take it anymore; COUNTrecount; Nowhere Man; FightThePower!; C. Edmund Wright; ...

At no point in history has any government ever wanted its people to be defenseless for any good reason ~ nully's son

The biggest killer of mankind

Nut-job Conspiracy Theory Ping!

To get onto The Nut-job Conspiracy Theory Ping List you must threaten to report me to the Mods if I don't add you to the list...


33 posted on 11/20/2015 7:35:13 AM PST by null and void (We are AmeriCANs. We CAN learn, and learn from history, if we choose.)
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To: Not gonna take it anymore
I have no idea why the apostrophes in the article look so weird.

Because they are curved and FR is straight...

34 posted on 11/20/2015 7:36:13 AM PST by null and void (We are AmeriCANs. We CAN learn, and learn from history, if we choose.)
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To: Not gonna take it anymore
Well that's a shame. My TV is 99% of the time OFF.

Not sure why I bought a big honkin' 60 incher.

35 posted on 11/20/2015 7:38:25 AM PST by Lazamataz ( If they try firearm confiscation or gun registration, I go ballistic.)
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To: Not gonna take it anymore

Smart things talk to each other. It can be kind of creepy. If I turn on my bluray player it says something to my TV and the TV switches to the right input. More odd if I switch to a different input on my TV the bluray pauses, and unpauses when I switch back. Thanks to bluetooth and wireless networking everything can talk to each other. And the genie ain’t going back in the bottle.


36 posted on 11/20/2015 7:41:46 AM PST by discostu (Up-Up-Down-Down-Left-Right-Left-Right B, A, Start)
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To: Salamander

I think I’ll put my phone on the coffee table, tune to Univision and just let the battery run down. Llame Ya? Sorry, Senor, no habla.


37 posted on 11/20/2015 7:50:53 AM PST by Buckeye McFrog
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To: Buckeye McFrog

Or DogTV.

;D


38 posted on 11/20/2015 7:57:37 AM PST by Salamander (Trump is the voice of the muzzled majority.)
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To: Not gonna take it anymore

“In America Television Watches You.”


39 posted on 11/20/2015 7:58:17 AM PST by dfwgator
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To: Buckeye McFrog

We use Capri Sun pouches.


40 posted on 11/20/2015 8:32:11 AM PST by T-Bone Texan (The economic collapse is imminent. Buy staple food and OTC meds now, before prices skyrocket.)
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